Manage VMware infrastructure with Veeam

As part of the overview on the latest version of Veeam Backup & Replication platform this article presents the steps on how to manage VMware infrastructure. Veeam can connect to different Hypervisors. In the case of VMware it is possible to add infrastructures using vSphere information as well as vCloud Director information. And of course when managing multiple vSphere Hosts we can also enter the details for a vCenter installation. The purpose of this article is to show the steps for adding a vCenter server information. In this home lab the vCenter manages 3 separate VMware vSphere Hosts. Furthermore it is possible to add multiple vCenter and vCloud Director details and manage them from a single Veeam console. The same applies to single vSphere Hosts as long as they have a Full license and do not have a Free one.

Although it is possible to add single vSphere Hosts I would recommend to add vCenter servers instead. It make the management more “fluid” and there are also advantages. For example when moving virtual machines between Hosts, Veeam can still backup them automatically without re-configuring the Backup Job.

As we’ll cover later on in this article adding a vCenter Server means adding to the list of Managed Server. At the time of writing this list includes:

VMware vSphere

Works as Source Host and Target Host for Backup and Replication jobs

VMware vCloud Director

Works as Source Host

Microsoft Hyper-V

Works as Source Host and Target Host for Backup and Replication jobs

Microsoft SMB3 Storage

Works as Backup Repository

Microsoft Windows Server

Works as Backup Proxy and Backup Repository

Linux Server

Works as Backup Repository

Each one of these managed Server can have different roles assigned. For example the same vCenter can be used as a Source from where we are taking a VM Backup. We can restore the VM to the same vCenter acting as a target Host. In addition we can also point to a different vCenter for Disaster Recovery scenarios or even Replication purposes. Let’s take a look on how to add our first vCenter Server in Veeam

Manage VMware vCenter with Veeam

From the Veeam console main view let’s open the Backup Infrastructure view and selecting the Managed Servers menu we can see a list of registered Servers. Since Veeam Backup & Recovery is installed on a Windows Server we can find this one as auto-registered. From the right panel instead we can see the option to add the other ones as well including the VMware vSphere option we’ll use to add our vCenter to manage the VMware Infrastructure

Next step is to provide the name or IP Address of the vCenter Server. I always recommend to check for the proper DNS name resolution is working as expected. Both Forward and Reverse by mean of a dedicated FQDN. Let’s also provide a quick description for this object. Hint: a short one will look nice as it will quickly show its purpose in other screens

In this step we can provide the credentials to access the VMware Infrastructure. Either by simply adding a new set of credentials or choosing one from the previously created in the Credentials Manager. Also from this screen the ability to set a different Network Port to connect to the vCenter console other than the standard one

At this point we need to specify the credentials to access the vCenter. For detailed information I would advice to review the documents available at the Veeam website. An “Administrator” type of account or equivalent is required

Let’s confirm the settings as per screenshot below

If successfull the next screen will show a message warning about an untrusted certificate. This actually depends on your personal deployment!

Now a final screen showing the main connection settings

As soon as we hit on finish now in the Managed Servers a new sub-menu is available and showing the VMware infrastructure. This is drilling down from vCenter Servers. Should we add more vCenter Server they will appear here as separate objects. And still showing the pertinent VMware vSphere Hosts. Should we add individual licensed vSphere Hosts again, they will appear here as individual objects

This article shows how to manage VMware infrastructure with Veeam. As we can see the process is very simple. As soon as we are adding “Managed Servers” next step would be to add a Veeam Backup Proxy to talk to these servers. And this is exactly what we’ll cover int the next article.

Hopefully this post is helping setting up your home lab. Let me know about your comments and feedback!

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Michele Domanico

Passionate about Virtualization, Storage, Data Availability and Software Defined Data Center technologies. The aim of Domalab.com is sharing with the Community the knowledge and experience gained with customers, industry leaders and like minded peers. Always open to constructive feedback and new challenges.